Damascus, Aug. 11 -- A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced ousted former President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia after convicting him of premeditated murder, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity.
Assad has been sentenced for the crimes carried out over his regime's 24-year rule.
The ruling was issued by the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus, presided over by Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan. The court also sentenced several former officials to death, including Assad's cousin Atef Najib, the former head of political security in the southern city of Daraa, state news agency said.
Assad's maternal cousin Atef Najib, detained in Syria,- was also sentenced to death for leading the 2011 crackdown in the southern province of...